Teachers Strike: GES to meet Unions

Accra, July 5, GNA – The Ghana Education Service (GES) has invited the leadership of the striking teacher Unions to a meeting over their industrial action.

Meanwhile, the Service has directed Heads of Senior High Schools through the Regional and District Directors to mobilise their management teams to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all students in schools.

It also asked District Directors to ensure that Basic School Heads kept schools opened and supervised all children who reported to school pending further directives.

Four teacher unions on Monday July 4, 2022, declared an indefinite nationwide strike over demands for the payment of “Cost of Living Allowance” (COLA).

The Unions – the Ghana National Association of Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers, the Teachers and Educational Workers Union and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana, are demanding 20 per cent of their basic salary as COLA.

They said the strike was necessitated by government’s failure to meet the June 30 deadline to pay the COLA, which they argued could have helped to mitigate the impact of the rising cost of living.

Mr Ofosu Asamoah, the Executive Secretary, National Labour Commision, in a statement, urged the Government to immediately engage with the aggrieved teacher unions and negotiate settlement of their grievances within seven days and report to the Commission.

The statement urged the Unions to rescind their decisions and discontinue their industrial action to pave way for the process of engagement.

A statement from the Ghana TVET Service advised its teaching and non- teaching staff to “remain at post to provide quality skills and training to the Ghanaian child,” saying they were not part of the industrial action.

GNA